Lyft had a solid fourth quarter: ‘we prefer Uber over Lyft’

Lyft Inc (NASDAQ: LYFT) on Tuesday said it had a solid fourth quarter that helped hit its target of full-year positive EBITDA. Shares, however, slipped just under 10% after-hours on dovish guidance for the future.

Notable figures in Lyft’s Q4 earnings report

Lyft reported $74.7 million in adjusted EBITDA versus $74 million expected. 18.74 million riders in Q4 represented a massive 49.2% YoY increase but still missed experts’ forecast of 20.2 million. as per the earnings press release.

On the earnings call, CFO Elaine Paul said ride volume in the recent quarter hit a pandemic high, but warned of a slight slowdown in Q1 due to Omicron.  On CNBC’s “Closing Bell”, Needham’s Bernie McTernan said:

The ride-hailing company earned 9 cents a share (adjusted) on $969.9 million in sales – an annualised growth of 70%. The FactSet consensus was for 8 cents of adjusted EPS and $941.4 million in revenue. Lyft said its revenue per rider printed at $51.79 beating analysts’ estimates of $46.50.

Lyft’s guidance for the current quarter

For the current quarter, Lyft forecasts up to $850 million in revenue and $5 million to $15 million in adjusted EBITDA – both below estimates. McTernan added:

A day earlier, UBS slashed its price target on LYFT from $60 to $46 that represents a 20% upside from here.